CINJ received a P20 Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) planning grant in 1992. These dollars helped recruit a director and established the earliest infrastructure for an NCI-designated cancer center. In 1997, CINJ was awarded a P30 CCSG 1 that included $100,000 annually for developmental funds. It became apparent to the Director that this award could be used as a means to attract matching philanthropic dollars, and each year this amount of money has grown substantially. In 2000, CINJ successfully competed for a five-year CCSG renewal with an "Excellent" priority score of 171. Developmental Funds received a rating of "Outstanding" and $280,000 per year was awarded as requested. Based on advice and detailed review by the Internal and External Advisory Boards, plans were developed to enhance clinical and population sciences and interdisciplinary interactions. Developmental Funds played an important role in implementation of this plan by allowing the development of critical shared resources and the recruitment of outstanding new faculty that culminated in designation of CINJ as a Comprehensive Cancer Center in June, 2002. Developmental Funds are used to foster outstanding cancer research. During the last grant period, Developmental Funds provided essential support for outstanding new investigators, supported interdisciplinary pilot studies that led to translationally-focused collaborations, and helped establish new shared resources (e.g., Transcriptional Profiling, Transgenic and Knockout Mouse). In particular, Developmental Funds helped to strengthen the Division of Prevention, Control and Population Science and improved interactions between this division and the Divisions of Basic and Clinical Sciences. During the next grant period, CINJ shall use Developmental Funds to continue to enhance each of the three main scientific divisions of the center, Clinical Science (Prostate; Breast Cancer Research; Cancer Pharmacology/Developmental Therapeutics), Basic Science (Transcriptional Regulation and Oncogenesis; Cytokines, Cytokine Signaling and Cancer; and Molecular Mechanisms of Tumor Growth), and Prevention, Control and Population Science (Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention; Population Science). To accomplish this aim, Developmental Funds will be used to help recruit new investigators, develop new shared resources, and fund additional pilot projects aimed at fostering inter-disciplinary collaborations.